Tales of the Before
by Cen21000
Summary: This is the story of an unknown Time Lord known as the Mentor. After inadvertently stealing a type 607 TARDIS to save his own hide, this would be thief finds himself on the run from a sinister squad of soldiers, one of history's most feared serial killer, and the mysterious and tyrannical Lord President of Galifrey. All OC and minor references to old DW. During 4th doc's life time.
1. Chapter 1

**Doctor Who Tales of the Before**

**By Jay Schmidt**

_ There are many tales of the famous man known simply as the Doctor. His exploits are known throughout the universe. While he is perhaps the most famous of the Time Lords, he is not the only renegade. Long before the verging days of the Last Great Time War there were more heretical Time Lords besides the Doctor or the Master. This is the story of the Time Lord called the Mentor._

_Rated Mature_

Chapter One

"Has he spoken?" the thin golden encrusted politician asked the guard stationed to the prison cell.

"No sir," the guard snappily responded. "He's been…"

"Been what, soldier?"

"Singing, Lord President." The guard wasn't sure what it meant or why Lord President of Gallifrey took this message with great horror. The dimly lit corridor of the prison became even darker that day and the President took long purposeful strides away from the cell and the battered prisoner within.

Outside of the brig inside of the Citadel of Arcadia the president was met by his entourage of loyal senators and body guards. The soldiers surrounding them bore no markings, no rankings or unit identification. To the average citizen they were ghosts. To the most veteran soldier on Gallifrey they were either a part of this mysterious squad or heard the rumors of the Ardha Unit. In the blackest history of Gallifrey, these select Time Lords are the ones pulling the trigger. They were never used except for the most dire of circumstances, and the Lord President believed that the worst was coming.

The sun was setting and the hills of orange beyond the glass dome shone like fire. This time tomorrow the president would be back in the Capitol where he, and his loyal entourage, would plan their next steps carefully in the Panopticon.

"Lord President!" one of the following members of the senate spoke up, clearly panicking over the potential news. "What happened in there, Lord President Baru-"

"Quiet you fool!" another senator snapped, wishing to not upset the president. The metal streets and pathways were vacant and the air hung heavily in between the politicians and the soldiers. The large ornate head pieces that each senator wore bobbed ferociously in silence while covert conversations took place entirely in trading glances.

"The prisoner," the Lord President spoke, his teeth gritting intensely. "is singing." The head bobbing became still and the senators became taciturn with total fear. With this knowledge, their world had come to an end.

"We will reconvene in the Panopticon this time tomorrow." The Lord President ordered. "Until then we shall not be seen with each other. You will each have a member of Ardha with you at all times and we will consort with the one who knows what to do." Taking a breath proved a burden to the frailty of the president. "Return to the Capitol separately and without raising any fuss. We knew this day would come. We've prepared. Let us not waste any more time over prattling in fear or regrets."

The senators each passing stares of agreement and the entourage disbanded without another word, each politician with a soldier and the president with the commander of the unit. When the street became devoid of all but those two the president turned to his protector and spoke.

"We _must _find him." The president spoke harshly, spit flying in between his teeth as he hissed.

"We have the best men on the job, Lord President." The commander spoke calmly and with the utmost confidence in his words and in his soldiers. "He will not evade for much longer. Sooner or later, he will slip up, and we will have the Eye back where it belongs."

* * *

"This is stupid." The grumbling short man muttered to himself as he took careful steps down the corridor. "This is completely moronic. Five hundred years, if I'm lucky. Life in prison maybe. If the Executor is feeling generous." Pressing himself up against the wall, the man took a cautious peek around the corner. "Where is everyone?"

The repair bay was seemingly abandoned. Surely the curfew hadn't been pushed so far ahead that the employees of the repair bay beneath the Capitol were forced home for the night? The man slinked across the corridor, being careful to remain in any security blind spots.

"Okay," the man whispered to himself. "Where is the one?" Arriving at a lonely row of computer banks, the man made careful sure that no one was watching and began pressing buttons. He may have not known which buttons to press but that was the fun of it for him.

He was in a security room of some kind. The monitors displayed internal camera images from within the complex and the man took careful steps to make sure the system didn't detect him. According to all the monitors there was no one else in the building. _Wait, what was that?_

Focusing his attention on a certain screen, the man discovered someone walking passed a camera. The screen became distorted and fuzzy as the figure crossed the path of the screen. Whoever it was, they were interfering with the security somehow.

"Not good." The man gritted his teeth. He wasn't the only intruder here tonight. Wiping the local footage of the security cameras, the man quickly made his way out of the room and began heading towards the main repair bay. His plans had to change with the addition of the extra company.

Watching his corners and making sure whoever was out there didn't detect him, he found himself in the grand wide open room of repair bay 6. The whole repair building near the base of the Capitol was modularly designed, allowing for individual bays to be moved and relocated around each other like sliding puzzle pieces.

This wasn't the bay that the man needed to be in. If he started moving the bays around it would attract attention and surely whoever was stalking around out there would come to investigate. He would have to be quick. It's not going to be easy or clean but he would have to make it work. Preparing for the worst that could come, the man took a deep breath and used a nearby panel to move the modules.

A deafening gear clank boomed out into the emptiness and for a second the mechanism was silent. After briefly warming up, the mechanisms whirred to life and the rooms began to shift. Safely outside of repair bay 6 the man watched the rooms whiz by and waited for the one he needed. Pressing the panel button once more, the modules came to a halt and the room he was looking for was in front of him. Repair bay 1.

Looking around before entering, the man saw that whoever was out there hadn't shown up yet. He wasn't about to wait around for whoever that was. Quickly rushing in to the bay, he looked desperately for what he needed. But something was odd. Something that shouldn't have been there was in the repair bay. A tall cylindrical pillar was sitting in the repair slot. The man immediately recognized it as the base outward appearance of a type 607 TARDIS.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked himself more rather than TARDIS. The type 607 was a fairly standard unit of TARDIS back in the day. While it wasn't obsolete there have certainly been better models since. The type 607 model was designed by the joint effort between the current Lord President of Gallifrey and the scientific team of the Lungbarrow house at the Academy. This model of TARDIS was probably best known for it being said to have a unique personality of that to other TARDISes.

The man approached the steel pillar and ran his hand down the slit in between the doors. The cool touch of it sent shivers down his spine and a shock in his finger tip. The sleek blemish free surface hid a universe behind it and the man sighed, melancholy for the days he used to work on these classic machines. Watching them grow and adjusting their instruments late into the nights of his younger years. It was a dalliance that preoccupied his time happily and he learned the ins and outs of all that these later generation TARDISs had to offer.

For whatever reason this TARDIS was here the man thought that he might have use of it if worse came to worst. He was still alone in the repair bay and if that other intruder was on his way, he would have to work fast. He didn't take the chance and began immediately typing away at the system monitor that was each bay was equipped with. Working his way through the security measures of repair bay 1 he found subroutines that made no sense to him.

Scrambles partitions of useless data. This was what was called a drowning. Filling up a system with petebytes worth of data that it was rendered unusable. This wasn't good. If the man here was going to find what he was looking for he would have to develop away to sift through all this junk data in order to find what he needed. These systems weren't mean to exceed certain capacities and whoever did this, overclocked the terminal.

This stank of something much bigger to the man breaking his way through endless codes. Frustrated, he began to tear away at the terminal's under paneling to reveal loose wirings and circuit boards. This proved to be a mistake.

Alarms began ringing

The man had even less time now. Some detection system set off the whole repair bay's security system. In less than a minute the whole Under-Capitol would shut down and an anti-dematerialization field would be in effect. He had to think fast.

Tearing away the whole terminal from its bolted position the man dragged it over to the anomalous TARDIS parked in the center of the bay. He wasn't going to leave without the data on that terminal. He knew what he could do and it sent violating shivers down his spine. Hating the very thought of doing this went against everything he valued. To steal a TARDIS was more than simply high-jacking some space freighter, it was pilfering a home.

Pulling a small device from his rear pocket, the man placed a small keypad against the sliding doors of the TARDIS. Pressing a small button, numbers began racing across the miniature screen at impossible speeds. In a matter of 30 seconds the doors slid open and the TARDIS led out a painful chime of its own alarms.

Ignoring the painful throbbing of two security alarms going off at the same time into his ears, the man lifted the torn up terminal and heaved it over his shoulder. Taking a quick glance around to make sure he was clear he stepped over the threshold and through into another transdimensional layer of reality.

That was how the TARDISes worked. The inside was remarkably larger than its exterior and thanks to the brilliant minds of the original founders/creators of the first TARDIS, this technology has only improved since its inception. This type 607 model had enhanced matrixes and a fabrication unit that could make complex models of fourth dimensional space for navigation. To anyone that never passed their flight test, this was complete gibberish. The more intelligent and refined Time Lord knew that models of fourth dimensional space is a key ingredient of what the Time Vortex moves around and if a TARDIS can accurately predict such models ahead of time the pilot will technically arrive before he or she has actually dematerialized.

This programing technique eventually became outlawed by Gallifrey rule. Simply put, this method of flying a TARDIS and this enhanced style of matrix and rotor system rendered even the most complex anti-dematerialization field ineffective.

The man deadlocked the doors and worked quickly to shut down the alarms inside. The desktop setting of the interior looked seemed to be a forest underwater. Glittering blue tree trunks wrapped and coiled around the main time rotor in the center of the control console and it extended beyond the ceiling up into the rooms above. Elegant glass designs made transparent cases for the controls and made up the five individual console faces of the control mechanisms.

Once successfully working his way through the rather innocently written code that protected the security of the TARDIS, the man took a proper look around him and witnessed all of the illegal tech that surrounded him. "Oh boy," he breathed in deeply and accepted the painful truth. He would have to run away and never stop. When you walking in on something of the caliber, you're in for life.

"Okay then," he sighed and placed himself in front of the gravity clamps that held the TARDIS parked in its place. "I'm really sorry to do this to you, gorgeous girl. You're the only one that can help me here, and I really do need help." His words fell on deaf ears and only the whirring pieces of the complex organic machine was there for him.

Releasing the gravity clamps the type 607 TARDIS was emancipated from its place. Activating the geometric constancy aligners, the pilot and the ship knew where they were in three dimensional space. The atom accelerator told where/when the ship would move to, and last but not least, the gas pedal. Throwing the final switch of the recompensator into place the fourth dimensional model had been calculated and the type 607 TARDIS evaporated from repair bay 1 and made its way into the universe.

The man inside that TARDIS was very much unaware of the looming figure that stood just beyond those doors. Back I repair bay 1, the man that was seen in the cameras as floating pixels watched as the sound of the time rotor slowly came to a silence and the unknown figure was alone.

"I'm really sorry about this." The man in the TARDIS said pacing around the console, his eyes tracing the semi-bioluminescent tree trunks up and down. "I messed up back there and I just took you! I'm sorry about the door by the way. It must have hurt to be forced in like that." The engine of the ship made a slow grinding noise as he spoke seemingly to himself. The nervous paces on the marble platforms around the controls echoed shoe taps up towards the ceiling.

"It was lucky that you had that matrix to get out of there faster." The man thankfully said and stiffly patted the edge of the control console. "I promise that I won't let anything hurt you. After all this whole thing is my fault." He cast a sullen glance at the torn out repair bay terminal lying on the marble floor near the doors. "Everything has been my fault."

Silence cast its awkward presence over the man and he struggled to deal with the situation at hand. He had worked on type 607s before, but this particular TARDIS was on a different scale all together. There were clear signs of alterations and modifications. Like someone had been carving it apart and replacing the original pieces with overly simplistic components that even a first year at the academy could understand. This TARDIS had its fair share of scars. That was clear to the man.

This level of pain was difficult to be near. It made everything around it feel sick and uncomfortable like a relative with a terminal illness.

"_Shadows rain…_"

The man heard a voice. His head swiveled around and saw no one. The voice was close and… singing.

"_Breathless night…_"

It was coming from the speakers on the console. The man leaned his head in closer to listen.

"_Payla's reign. Caroline waits for her shining hero. Chasms break those who hear the cry and soon she will bring fear and never die. Lady, goddess, divine creation. Wrap your light around me and bring salvation to those who cling to light and obligation… BZZZT!_" the speaker went dead. Fiddling with the controls for a brief moment revealed to the man that this sound didn't originate from inside the TARDIS. It was some kind of stray transmission that had been picked up by the automatic systems and then quickly lost.

"What was that?" the man stroked the edge of his chin in contemplation. "This day." He shook his head. "Anyway. I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is the Mentor, and I hope to get along with you until we sort this mess out."

His smile, while sincere, was heavy with melancholy. His journey has begun.

_Thank you for reading the first chapter of the Tales of the Before. I made a note at the beginning that this will be a mature story and while it doesn't seem that way, it will soon be. I plan on graphic violence appearing in future chapters and I hope that doesn't dissuade any readers, but I understand if it does. Thank you so much and I crave feedback! _


	2. Chapter 2

**Doctor Who Tales of the Before**

**By Jay Schmidt**

_ Hello again! Welcome to Chapter Two of my tale. I hope you enjoy this chapter and its longer length compared to the first. I am also introducing a character that doesn't speak English one hundred percent and I suspect that my understanding of the language this character speaks will be less than perfect. I am looking for corrections of my French and feedback on the story itself. Thanks for reading!_

**Chapter Two**

"This is too much." The soft breath of the young woman became labored and quickening. "There's no way I can do this much."

"You can do this." The voice of her friend spoke with confidence as he leaned over her. "It isn't difficult at all to do this much."

"But…" the two paused and her frustrated eyes meet his as she turned around. Slamming her fists against the table the pages of the books that littered its surface fluttered gently in the breeze of her aggravation. "This doesn't make sense! Je ne comprends pas."

"Come on, Roux." Her classmate quietly cheered her on to do her best. "This is the basic lesson that you'll need to learn for the final. It may seem daunting at first, but you can do it."

"I don't know where you get this confidence in me." Roux couldn't settle herself and concentration on her college studies were impossible. Running her hands through her lengthy brunette hair she rested her cheek against the cool of the mahogany library table. The setting sun was peering through the large windows that made up the wall that the two students had their backs to and casting its ember light across the distressed foreign exchange student and her uncompleted homework.

"Because you can do this." Her classmate said returning the page of the book in front of her to the one they needed.

"Non." Her pouting lips pursed together and she swatted at the book like a disinterested cat.

"We still have time before the library closes for the evening." She looked at him from her tilted head as he spoke. "So get to studying while you still can Roux."

Lifting herself back up to a sitting position she lazily examined the text of the book before her. The sun silently set behind the two and soon their studies came to an end for the night. Saying her farewells to her helpful classmate she began her walk back from the university library back to the dormitories.

The path back was deserted save for Roux and her silhouetted shadow from the street lamps that illuminated her way forward. The concrete roads served her no comfort and she felt a crushing sense of responsibility upon her shoulders. This final test that she was studying for would be the determining factor in whether she was going to stay in the county or if her scholarship would be revoked.

From the first day that she landed by plane to this country she had been steadily losing her strength to go on. A strange kind of gloom enveloped her this night and she let out a sigh of remorse. She had always wanted to travel and see the world and studying here, while a tremendous privilege she was sure to never forget, did not itch the particular travelling bug that she had since her childhood.

The dormitory that she stayed in didn't feel like home to her either and there were few places we should could truly relax. Checking her mobile from her jeans pocket she checked her messages. Nothing.

Emails. Nothing.

Missed Calls. Nothing.

She felt dejected and tried to speed up her pace back to the dormitory. The brisk air wasn't doing wonders for her skin and she wanted to take a bath before she went to sleep.

The large modern dorm building loomed up above her and she swiped her student ID and punched in a code to unlock the door. The warm interior of the building comforted her slightly and she waited for the lift to arrive after pressing the button summoning it.

Arriving back at her dorm she finally let out a sigh of relief and took off her coat, placing it on the coat rack that sat near the door. Her roommate was most likely asleep. _La paix et la tranquillité_. She thought and proceeded to her room.

Her bedroom was a Spartan affair. Scarce of personality or decorations or even mirrors. The cot in the corner of the room and the dresser against the wall were furniture pieces that were provided by the university and the only other thing Roux had were her clothes. Her first week in the country before university started the first term was spent shopping for new fashionable clothes. She may have gone overboard because this was the first time she was exposed to so much decadence that it was overwhelming.

A new wardrobe was all she could afford and she happily purchased her new look during her first days here. Gently removing her clothes from her body she refused to look down to her naked form. It was a shameful experience for her to relive it over and over again, to feel that chasms of broken flesh and torn scar tissue that sprawled across her body would make her flinch and she would always struggle to hold back the torrent of tears that would inevitably come.

Standing naked and alone in her dormitory bedroom she trembled from the cold and was frozen in place from the memories of her childhood. As much as she struggled to earn her way to this university it seemed like she would be soon forced to leave if she couldn't get a passing grade. The thought of that scarred her more than anything.

"Roux, are you there?" the sound of her roommate calling for her came through the door.

"Oui, Laura." She spoke out but stayed planted in place where she stood.

"Sorry if I disturbed you but there's someone to see you here." Laura announced and walked off away from the door. Roux couldn't think of who would be visiting her and she gathered up her clothes again making sure that her body was covered and stepped back out. Standing in the doorway of the dorm a man with his hands stuffed in his suit pockets waited patiently.

He was very handsome. Tall, slender, and a head of dark hair that framed his face and cheekbones. He wore a dark black and grey suit. He looked as if he had just come from a funeral and his expression was not one of happy news. Roux looked him over and when confusion finally got the better of her she asked him who he was.

"Qui êtes-vous?"

"My name is Jonathan Merch." The man clarified. "I'm from the university housing department and there's been a concern raised with your current living affairs." He took a brief pause to compose himself. "I'm afraid that this will be the last semester the university is able to provide you with housing. As of next semester you will not be allowed to stay in the dorms."

Silence enveloped the young college woman. She never even had the opportunity to pass her exam. Her fate was sealed before she had the chance to change anything. The edges of her mouth contorted downcast and her head fell into her hands. The loose fitting clothes that she hastily put back on a moment ago began to slide over her shoulders.

She brought her shirt back up over to the nape of her neck and she nodding, confirming she understood the man. He clearly understood that she had become distraught over something more than getting kicked out of the dorm.

"I am very sorry, ma'am." Mr. Merch said. He was unsure of how to speak to her without upsetting her further. "If you have any questions or need anything else my office is on the first floor of this building. Just ask for me at the front desk. I'll be sure to help make you move as smooth of a transition as possible."

With nothing more to say Mr. Merch gave a slight twisting bow and slowly left the doorway and stepped back in to the hallway way away from the distressed Roux.

"Monsieur Merch!" Roux called out after him, poking her head past the door jam. The man half turned, afraid to look her in the eyes for fear of becoming downcast himself. "When is the day that I must leave?"

"The 15th, Miss Roux." Mr. Merch said. "Have a good night." He turned back and continued walking away.

Back in the dorm, Roux closed the door and slid down the floor her hands covering up any tears she might have had. She couldn't believe it. She had worked so hard. What changed? It was as if the difficulty curve expected of her just ramped up three hundred percent. There was nowhere she could go and she never wanted to move back home.

Clutching at her stomach she remembered the scar that lay beneath the soft cotton of her shirt. She recalled the searing pain that burned through every inch of her body as she screamed into the empty night that no one came. That no one found her. She would never go back to that.

"Roux?" the sound of her roommate Laura's voice squeaked like a timid mouse pinning for her attention. Roux looked up to see Laura kneeling and a frown meeting her. "Are you okay?'

"Non, Laura." She shook her head. "I am not okay. I don't want to go back. I won't go back there."

"I know it's not good to get kicked out of university but," Laura scratch are her cheek trying to be reassuring. "don't you miss your family at all? Wouldn't it be nice to see them again?"

"They are not my famille!" Roux shouted and immediately clasped her hands over her mouth. She didn't want to lose her temper with Laura, especially since she did nothing wrong. She was only trying to make her happy. There was no possible way for her to know what had happened to her.

So Roux smiled through her tears, apologized to her roommate and bid her a goodnight. Returning to her bedroom once more she turned off the lights and curled up into her bed fully dressed and wide awake.

The night was too long for her to handle and after rattling the worst thoughts possible around in her head for a few hours she finally succumbed to sleep.

When she woke up the sun was peering through her window. It was a weekend and there weren't any classes to go to so she didn't bother to force herself up just yet. The warmth of her sheets covered her and she desperately wanted to go back to dreaming. It was less complicated there. There weren't people wanting to hurt her or drive her away.

She just wanted to sleep.

* * *

The air was brisk but the humidity was steadily gathering up. The sound of a whirring motor echoed out and the nearby lake rippled on the surface as something forced its way out of thin air. This summer scene was invaded by a strange shape like a stray doodle in a flipbook. The university lake property was undisturbed by the sudden appearance of a garden shed that was not there a few minutes before.

A few minutes passed by and the area was still pristine and without any witnesses. Whoever would walk by now wouldn't think twice about the common looking shed and its lakeside location. The small wooden façade shook quietly and soon a man came bursting out of the door and it quickly shut itself back closed.

"Gah!" the Mentor was tossed wildly from the inside of the type 607 TARDIS that he flew away in to escape the repair bays on Galifrey. "That hurt! What the hell was that then?" he quickly got back to his feet and slammed the bottom of his foot onto the door. As soon as he had landed with the randomizer set to high a gust of wind from inside the TARDIS blew him through the door and he was locked out.

"Let me back in!" he banged his fists against the door and took the fake padlock that served as the hidden lock in his hand. The Mentor suddenly realized that the device that he used to crack the lock in the first place was on the other side of those doors. Rubbing his head crazily his hair frayed out at the ends. Falling backwards he landed on his butt back onto the grass.

"Come on." He sighed and sat for a moment hoping and silently praying for something to come along and open those doors for him. The midday sun was beating down on the top of his head and he began to sweat through his clothes. Suddenly a moment of shade appeared above him and he looked up to see what had blocked the light from giving him heatstroke.

"Are you okay, Monsieur?" the frail slim figure of a young girl was standing over him looking curiously at him like he was some lost enigma. Her silhouetted figure cast dark lines of shadow around the Mentor. "Monsieur?" the Mentor realized that he had been star struck by her beauty and had to regain his composure.

Accepting her helping hand to get to his feet he brushed the stray blades of grass of his pants and greeted her. "Oh, hello there." The Mentor gasped, embarrassed with himself. "I'm… just a bit lost is all. I'm not really supposed to be here."

"Are you les étudiant here as well?" the girl asked as she examined the sweaty man before her.

"A student?" he cocked his head to the side. "No, no, no, no, I'm nothing like that. I couldn't pass a written exam if my life depended on it. Are we in France?"

The girl tilted her head in confusion. "Non, Monsieur we are not in France. That is something that I am very grateful for to be sure." The Mentor cast a backwards glance to the TARDIS disguised as a shed.

"Where were you heading, Miss…?" the Mentor asked trying to distract himself from his current predicament.

"Roux." She said and held out her hand delicately. A strange level of comfortableness exuded from this man and she felt calm around this stranger. Every cell in her body was aching to leave him be but her words, they had a plan of their own. "I was just headed to the cafeteria for some food. You're welcome to join me there." She paused for a moment secretly hoping that he would decline her. He was bad news to her and she was regretting letting her curiosity get the better of her when she spotted him from across the way.

"Uh…" the Mentor was oblivious to her internal conflict. "Sure. I would love to." He was intrigued by a beautiful human woman and he had nowhere else to go. That ridiculous TARDIS wouldn't let him back in and it wasn't going to fly off by itself, so he only had time now. Until he could figure his way back into that stubborn contraption.

The mess hall for the dormitory was in short walking distance from the lake that the two stood by and the distance was met with awkward silence all the way. It wasn't until the burst of cool air from the air-conditioning that the Mentor finally let out a relieved sigh. Stretching his arms overhead he gladly sat and waited for the young girl to come back with a tray of lunch food.

Roux sat down and offered an apple to the man and began silently taking small bites from her peanut butter and jam sandwich. The Mentor took a single snapping chomp from the crisp apple and placed it down onto the table.

"Are you okay?" familiar words were now being turned back around to Roux from the strange man that sat next to her.

"I don't know what you mean?" Roux averted her eyes and focused them onto her sandwich.

"Your shoulders," The Mentor motioned to her and Roux produced a slight flinch too subtle for him to notice at first. "They're very stiff. You look uncomfortable."

"Like I said Monsieur, I don't know what you mean." Roux continued to push for her ignorance and the man squinted his eyes towards her.

"I'm bother you aren't I?" the Mentor slowly rose to his feet and gave her a slight bow. "I don't want to disturb you. I'll just leave."

"Non, Monsieur!" Why? _Pourquoi?_ She grabbed the end of his sleeve as he stood and their eyes met for the briefest of moments. She immediately retracted her arm and placed her palms flat against her lap and lowered her head.

Her thoughts raced around her mind like cars on a race track. She couldn't figure out what made her body make these uncharacteristic choices without the consent from her conscience. Something about this man made her move without thinking and it was truly upsetting her to not know why. They had just met. She didn't find this man to be particularly attractive and he was odd. It was as if someone else was making these choices for her.

This dichotomy dividing her mind and body in two was confusing and only making Roux feel more uncomfortable with this man and herself.

"Are you sure?" the Mentor asked half sitting half standing as he looked for her decision somewhere in the ether between them. "You don't look very good?"

"What is your name, Monsieur?" Roux asked with a squeak. "This whole time I forgot to ask. How rude of me."

"Oh," the Mentor chose to sit back down and covered his knees with his hands. The awkward sensation steadily washing over both of them was clear as day. "My name is a little hard to pronounce so everybody just calls me the Mentor."

"What sort of name is that?" Roux slowly raised her chin as she spoke.

"A silly nickname that stuck." The Mentor shrugged and tried to lighten up the mood. "An old friend said the name really suited me. I'm not so sure to be honest."

"He must have been pretty close if you still use it." Roux said slowly restoring her confidence but her fear still clutched tightly inside her chest. The Mentor chuckled with a warm wave of nostalgia. Little did this young girl know that this old friend was from another world, and so was he.

The warmth that Roux felt from the Mentor was friendly and inviting. Or maybe she was imagining it? It was still difficult to discern from all of her anxieties that were built up inside her. The Mentor tried his best to seem normal and kind to her but the two suffered a clear line of disconnect between each other.

The table fell silent for a brief moment and the two traded fleeting glances between each other. Shy and curious looks of what would be said next and who would dare to speak up first. The Mentor took the opportunity to raise his voice.

"I'm sort of, homeless." The Mentor said, scratching the nape of his next, unsure of how Roux would react. He didn't want her to receive the wrong impression from him after all. "I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of someplace that might be able to help me. I'm not really familiar with where I am."

"You don't know where you are, Mentor?" Roux asked him. "Where are you from originally to not know where you are?"

"That's… a good question." He responded with an ephemeral smile. "It's not a good place. My birthplace isn't a kind place to be."

A spark of inspiration struck Roux as she heard the Mentor speak sadly of his home. These were the words that made her realize something that she had somehow instinctively recognized. There was a suffering in this man. Something that ran across this man's thoughts like the scars that wrapped her torso hidden beneath the surface of her clothes.

"I'm not sure if I want to go back." The Mentor spoke softly now. "But, I have a responsibility to someone that needs me. All I've done though is only manage to get chased off and abandoned." His face, no sullen with regret, slunk further down and Roux sat quietly unsure what to do like a kitten next to the highway.

"Sorry." The Mentor arched his back and raised his head back upright. "I didn't mean to be all mopey. Any help you could provide will be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately I don't have anything in the ways of money to offer to you in return."

"I don't know about any shelters or Auberge de jeunesse around here." Roux apologized to him. "I'm afraid I too will soon be homeless."

"What do you mean?" the Mentor asked. "Do you not stay in the dormitory her on campus?"

"Qui, I do." Roux nodded. "But I can no longer staying a resident there once the semester is over. I will have to return to my home once final examinations are over."

"You don't sound like you're looking forward to visiting your home?" the Mentor looked at her stiff shoulders that trembled slightly as she spoke.

"I am not happy, Mentor." She spoke, trying to fight the tears that were crawling their ways up through her eyes. "Like you had said before, my birthplace is not a good place to be." Her shivering turned into full shuddering from the horrible experiences she suffered through. _Some sort of PTSD? _The Mentor taciturnly thought from the outward signs she was exhibiting.

He erred the side of caution and didn't ask her to explain herself. It was clear she was hurting and opening that wound wouldn't make it any better. After all they had only just met and she didn't need life advice from a stranger.

The Mentor rose to his feet, this time with more confidence and an apple in his hand, and said; "I should take my leave now. There are some things I need to do before I can move on from here. Thank you for the company," he tossed the apple with the teeth mark in the air and caught it. "and the apple of course." He smiled to the beautiful Roux and proceeded to walk towards the exit.

"Monsieur Mentor, wait!" Roux quickly rose and left behind her cafeteria tray and jogged after him as he reached the doorway. "Let me help you." She smiled to the Mentor, but behind her back she dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands trying to get herself to go with him.

"Do you want to go?" the Mentor asked her, wanting her to be absolutely sure. Roux forced herself to nod. "Alright. I need to find an electronics store."

"Will this work?" Roux held up a packaged case of Ethernet cables that were bundled up in a discount bin of the electronic store. The store _Roland's _was a local store that was a short bus trip away from the university and the two were digging through the store's stock to fulfill the Mentor's shopping list of needs. Roux was still unaware of what all these components were for but she still worked to look for her share of the parts for his behalf.

"Those will work." The Mentor smiled and mentally scratched off the item from the list. "Now I need a transistor, some spark plugs, and a transducer so a phone of some kind."

Roux nodded and enthusiastically returned to searching for the required ingredients for the Mentor's unknown project. As the Mentor searched through the store the lone employee lazily watched from behind the cashier's counter and focused on listing to his MP3 player playing music through his headphones. He was checked out. The Mentor was thinking to himself and absorbed in ways of devising a new plan for him to get back inside of that pesky TARDIS.

Roux didn't know and the Mentor was concerned about getting her involved. He secretly hoped that once they were done here, they would part ways. The less time spend together the better it would be for her. He went back to calculating the required components needed to get through the dimensional folding security that this type of TARDIS was equipped with.

The Mentor's years of experience working and repairing TARIDSes of all variety would prove stronger than the 607's security. And when he was back inside, then what? He couldn't go back to Galifrey. Whoever's TARDIS that he stole was there and most likely wouldn't take an apology kindly. Not to mention the martial law that the planet had be succumbed to by the Lord President.

These past few years have not been kind for the Time Lords. Something was happening in the dark halls of the Senate and none of it was good.

"Mentor?" Roux had appeared by his side holding an old blocky mobile phone. It was the type of phone that had just surpassed the mobile battery packs that people would have to wear on their hips if they wanted their phone to make calls.

"Oh, sorry." He turned to her and examined the phone. It was primitive but it would work and it was cheap too. "This will work. I've got the other things that I need. This should be everything." Approaching the counter and the employee behind it they placed the electronic pieces for him to scan.

"That'll be $88.71." the employee said. The Mentor and Roux stood silently for a moment until finally Roux turned to look at the Time Lord.

"I don't have any money." The Mentor finally said.

* * *

Sprays of blood vandalized the wooden walls of the dark room. Hanging by chains that dug into the thin flesh of this naked girl she lay suspended and unconscious. Deep voices could be heard conversing from beyond the bolted door of the room.

"She won't say anything." A voice on the other side of the door said.

"Is she awake?" a deeper voice asked.

"No," the first voice said. "She almost bit through her tongue. I think I prodded a bit too hard. She's passed out right now."

"I see." The second tenor voice spoke calmly despite the horror scene sitting the next room. "We'll find her sooner or later. In the meantime we'll wait for the little one to wake up."

In the pitch dark room the young girl's breathing was labored and automatic from unconsciousness. Blood drops fell rhythmically from her mouth from when her teeth nearly cleaved through her tongue. Light was streaming through the bottom of the door and bars of shadow filtered through onto the floor below.

Outside two men discussed their plans. While one was pacing around anxiously the other sat in an old leather armchair, arms crossed, and eyes closed.

"If we don't find her what happens to us?" the pacing man asked. His voice was become hoarse with fear.

"It's okay." The man sitting in the chair spoke softly. "We're not about to be exposed so quickly. It's been a few months now and no one's come asking questions."

"So you expect us to just let her stay gone?" the man on his feet was feeling his blood pressure rise to an unhealthy level.

"Of course not." The man sitting uncrossed his arms and leaned forward onto his knees. "I _am _saying that you need to calm down. Monsieur Guilbeaux, I am personally assuring you that your freedom will be protected from any leak to the public."

It didn't seem that the man walking around in the small cabin living room was taking his word for it. M. Guilbeaux was far too important for something like this to send him to prison and the girl in the other room, who was still passed out, couldn't, or wouldn't, provide them the necessary information to find the missing girl. His career, his fortune, and his family were at stake if they did not find this missing girl soon.

"Tout va bien, Monsieur Guilbeaux." The sitting man assured him in his calm, almost soothing voice. "Regardez-moi. Does this look like the face of a man that is worried? We will find her. In the meantime, return to your famille, I'm sure your wife and children are missing you very much right now. My associates will locate her in due time."

M. Guilbeaux stroked aggressively at the edge of his chin as he looked at the man in the chair. His eyes had not opened during the length of their conversation and he felt sick that he didn't meet his gaze. If it wasn't for the strong track record in the past, their business might have come to an end that night. But, if this man promised result they were already certainly on their way to fruition.

"I expect to be updated." M. Guilbeaux opened the door to the cabin and stood in the doorway, his back turned away from the other man. "Monsieur Ogier." With the closing of the cabin door the man in the chair sat in silence with nothing for company except the chair he sat in, the lantern beside him, and the poor woman in the next room.

* * *

"No," the Mentor said with certainty as he was trying to walk quickly away from the chasing Roux.

"Why not, Mentor?" Roux looked confused as she took long strides to keep up with him. "You made me buy such strange things and you want me to just go away?"

"I don't want you to go away." The Mentor raised his hand. The two were walking very fast on the route back from the bus to the lake where Roux first discovered the Mentor. On the bus ride back from the electronic store the Mentor had discussed with Roux that he wished to part ways with her at the bus stop. She wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Then I will come with you."

"I definitely don't want you to do that either!" the Mentor was in a bind and if he had Roux latched to her like a sloth to a tree, there would be no room for him to build the device he needed to break back into the TARDIS.

"What is with you?" Roux said, stepping in front of the Mentor stopping him in his tracks. "What are you doing that is so secretive? Whether you like or not, you've already dragged me into this when you let me pay for those électronique."

"Its," the mentor ran his free hand through his hair. "complicated, Roux. I'm not trying to keep you out of the loop or anything but what I'm doing is… let's call it classified."

"Classé secrete?" Roux repeated in her native language. "Are you some sort of government agent? Un espion?"

"No." the Mentor shook his head and began walking past her. "I'm nothing that flashy. I'm just a guy. Just a normal guy looking for his way in life."

"But." Roux said chasing after the Mentor. The two were now back to at the lake where they had first met with the afternoon sun high above them. The air around the lake was humid and buzzing with the flitting of mosquitos.

The Mentor arrived back to the disguised TARDIS that was still just a gardening shed to Roux. He placed the shopping bag of electronic components by the door and began sorting through the pieces. Placing each piece he needed he began tearing apart through the plastic case of the mobile phone and began his aftermarket modifications.

"What are you doing?" Roux asked, kneeling and peering through the rest of the electronics still in the bag.

"I told you to leave." The Mentor didn't raise his head from his work as he spoke. Roux didn't bother listening to him anymore and stuck around. "The chameleon circuit's still functional so that's good." He muttered as he scrutinized the door of the garden shed. "Kinda washy. Synchronizing is a little slow, but I can work with this."

"Mentor?" Roux was listening to the Mentor murmur to himself.

"Sorry," he realized what he was doing. "I'm used to working with a team on this sort of stuff."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Roux asked, straightening out her back.

"Yes." He said without looking up. Roux thought she had him now. "You can leave me be and go on with your day." His smile to her was unbearable. _Merde!_

"Please, Mentor." Roux kneeled again and faced the strange man before her. She placed her hands over his and stopped his nimble fingers working. Their eyes met for a brief moment before the Mentor looked at her hands, trembling in between his fingers.

There was fear and desperation in these tremors running down her slender fingers. As much as she severely wanted nothing more to do with mysterious men in her life she didn't want to return, alone, to her dorm where she would wait for her life to crumble around her.

"I want to help." Roux's voice squeaked out. The Mentor looked her in the eyes and saw the sincerity in eyes and on her lips.

"Okay." The Mentor rasped out and gently nodded. "Okay then. You can help." Roux silently cheered to herself.

"What do you need?" she asked.

"Uh," he looked around him and the exposed circuit board of the retro mobile. "I need the A2 receptors."

The Mentor and Roux sat in the grass by the lake next to the gardening shed and worked quietly. Occasionally the Mentor would ask for specific pieces he needed and Roux diligently retrieved them for him and she watched his hand work their magic. Complex machinery was being combined into a Frankenstein's monster of technology and soon a handheld device laid in the grasp of the Mentor.

"What is it?" Roux asked with curiosity brimming. Her cares were far away tucked into a corner of the background of her thoughts.

"This, my dear Roux," the Mentor held it high and might in his clutches and stood triumphantly with the device pointed the sky. A small spinning dish attached to it rotating at preprogrammed intervals. "This is the thing that is going to get me into that shed!"

"Que?" Roux didn't understand a word of what the lunatic Time Lord had to say and watched as the Mentor attached the device he had manufactured to the door just underneath the decrepit padlock that kept him out.

"How is this supposed to open up la porte?" Roux asked, examining as numerical digits sprawled across the tine screen that the Mentor installed onto the device. They moved and changed rapidly, calculating some unknown formula that went over her head and escaped into earth's orbit.

"It's complicated." The Mentor responded to her assuredly.

"Why not just break ze lock?" Her heavy accent asked. "It looks weak enough to break off with a hammer or something."

"A hammer?" the Mentor was aghast. "Are you mental? A hammer isn't going to do anything to this impenetrable fortress of supreme engineering! You could take a vat of liquid nitrogen to that lock and it wouldn't lend a scratch."

Roux was confused and the Mentor's insulted words seemed more alien than she was accustomed to during her time at the university. He spoke as if the world was something far more strange than met the eye. It was as if he had discovered the back stage to the theater performance of the world and he wasn't sharing this knowledge with anyone else.

For as much as the Mentor didn't desire the young human, Roux was kind and sweet to him and his somewhat narcissistic ramblings. The majority of what he said made no sense to the poor girl, but a part of her didn't seem to care too much. The Mentor glanced at his wristwatch and back to the small display of the device as the numbers zoomed by. A look of disappointment crossed over him.

"What is the problème?" Roux asked, recognizing that look of anxiety before.

"The decrypting is taking too long." The Mentor rubbed his temples searching for results to his problem within his head. "The system is fighting back faster than I anticipated. My rig here is finding and plugging in the right base code numerals but the matrices are rebuilding components fast enough to make the procedure take forever!"

"Does that mean you won't be able to get in?" Roux asked as she took casual strides around the perimeter of the garden shed.

"No, I'll be able to get in." the Mentor spoke to her from around the corner of the shed. "It just means it's going to take longer than I'd expect. They don't usually fight back this much." The Mentor placed his hand on the door of the shed and gave a meaningful look as if he was speaking to a terminally ill friend. "Did I hurt you that much?"

"Did you say something?" Roux ask having missed that last question the Mentor asked. It hadn't been directed to her but rather than the inconspicuous TARDIS that she had been walking circles around. Little did she know of the world that fit inside that wooden confine.

"Nothing." The Mentor shook himself back to the moment.

"What is so special about this shed that you need to get in?" Roux asked having once returned next to the Mentor's side. "Why don't we just find the gamekeeper that has the key?"

"There is no gamekeeper."

"Surely there is." Roux protested. "Someone put this shed here and surely they use it for taking care of the lake here."

"It wasn't here until this morning." The Mentor explained to the bewildered Roux. She didn't believe him.

"But it's old!" Roux pointed out. "It looks as if it has been here for years. I could have sworn that I've seen this thing on my walks by this lake."

"That'd be the perception filter." The Mentor sighed.

"Que?" Roux was thoroughly confused by this absurd man and stood silent, trying to process the indecipherable information she had just been delivered. "How long will it take for you to get in." she finally gave up in trying to understand this man and caved.

"Based on the rate the base numerals are rebuilding and being deconstructed?" the Mentor leaned in for a closer look of his device. "I'd say, about sixteen more hours."

"Sixteen hours?" Roux was flabbergasted by this outcome. She didn't imagine that something so fragile looking as this shed would take so long just to get inside.

"Yeah," the Mentor said, his voice reaching a soft silence. "Can I stay the night with you?"

His insufferable smile was placarded onto his face and Roux was stunned by the sudden request. She didn't know how to answer.


	3. Chapter 3

**Doctor Who Tales of the Before**

**By Jay Schmidt**

_ Welcome back!_ _Bienvenue à nouveau! Thank you for returning for the next installment of Tales of the Before. I am still trying to develop the separate stories that are happening at the same time but I do want to assure you lovely readers that they are connected and in fact all are important to each other. It seems like nothing much has happened but it is just getting started for the craziest adventure you have seen in the Doctor Who universe. Thank you for reading and I will keep posting as much as I can! Much Love!_

**Chapter Three**

"Commander Talturner." A soldier member of the infamous Ardha unit of the darkest legends of the Galifrey military approached his commanding officer and provided his written report of the Senator that he was responsible. The hidden war room that could never be discovered in the secret underground systems underneath the Capitol. With the Senators safely returned from Arcadia the military unit had returned to their base of operations and began their hunt as ordered by the Lord President.

Night had consumed Galifrey and the orange ember fields beyond the glass dome of the Capitol were a dull brown. Lonely gusts of wind echoed through the expansive tracts of land and the bustling city was quiet due to the curfew that was put in place by the Lord President and the Council and was enforced by the conscripted military. The planetary guardsmen often had little to accomplish during the night shift because no one was stupid enough to leave their homes in defiance of the martial law.

The old Time Lord that served as Commander was anything but decrepit. He had regenerated only five times throughout his long life and he made every life count. By earth years he could count himself in his fifteen hundreds. In all honesty he no longer bothered counting the years of his life because he chose to dedicate every fiber of his being to leading his unit. These men and women were his family and he was fiercely loyal to protecting them.

Examining the electronic pad that his subordinate gave him, Talturner speed read the report of the Senators' conditions. Each one of their living quarters were monitored for any potential threat, allowing the Ardha unit to act within a matter of minutes. The night was looking quiet.

Talturner let out a hefty sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Are you okay, Tal?" the light voice of the second in command arrived to his side. The Time Lady that stood armor clad and hips cocked on one leg looked at him with her discerning bright eyes.

"S'nara, how many times have I told you…" Talturner began.

"To refer to you as 'Commander'." She sassed back as she finished his sentence. "I don't care about that and you should know that by now. What's wrong?" She ignored his lecture and pointed out his worrying fatigue.

"We have no leads." Talturner spoke candidly to her, a feat that the others of Ardha would not receive. "The Eye is still missing and so is he. If this continues on for much longer the Lord President is going to bring down the whole planet with his insanity."

"Do you really think that he'll be better with the Eye back?" S'nara spoke with venom whenever she discussed the Lord President. Politics were her bane and she despised anyone who would rather sit in dusty halls speaking rather than acting. She was a warrior through and through and she couldn't stand useless people.

"I don't know." Talturner turned to her. "The sooner we get this guy the better. Galifrey has had the stance of not interfering with any other times or places in the universe but this is a whole new level compared to what those renegades do in their free time."

"That's never stopped us before." S'nara brought up the times they were implanted on other worlds to influence the flow of time for sake of the universe. For better, or for worse.

"Those times weren't like this." Talturner said, his headache only growing worse. "This, this is something different. You-know-what is involved."

"I thought that was just a rumor." S'nara suddenly wore a face of deep concern and worry. Something sinister was moving in the shadows of these days and Ardha was being manipulated into something cruel that much was clear. It was purely circumstantial and there was no hard evidence to support the rumor floating between the two battle hardened Time Lords.

"If it isn't," Talturner said as he began to pace around the table that served as his desk in the center of the war room. "This will lead to war. War of unimaginable scale and destruction. I'm old S'nara. If war breaks out, I won't live to see the end of it."

"Don't say stuff like that." S'nara was beginning to feel chills run down the length of her spine. The two looked at each other and shared in the silence that had fallen between them. The war room was quiet and the squad was working diligently outside of their little bubble of conversation.

"Alright, men!" Talturner raised his voice and addressed the soldiers that were his responsibility. The attention of the unit was immediately centered upon him and S'nara donned a professional attitude and joined the rank and file.

"Things haven't been going as planned." Talturner began speaking. "The Council is expecting a lot from us and Ardha is going to deliver. A lot of you remember the Burning Flats campaign and the Astral Snakes, but this is something much bigger."

The soldiers didn't waver. They didn't swap worried or confused glances and no one spoke a word. These elites were awaiting their orders.

"We're going to see Cadeen." Talturner informed his unit of their orders and promptly dismissed them from the war room. They had a long and arduous operation ahead of them and they were going to need their rest.

"Ralmoora, eh?" S'nara spoke the name of the planet they were going to land on in the morning and she didn't like the way it tasted when she spoke. "Singing forests aren't really my thing."

"Many Time Ladies would be envious to be in your shoes to go see such a renowned world." Talturner said.

"I know but," She crossed her arms. "I'm not any old Time Lady."

"Are you worried?" Talturner asked and if anyone that didn't know him was listening they would begin to suspect that he was teasing his second in command. It was a serious question and he was never in the mood for playing around.

"Aw," S'nara said with a mocking fluttering of her eyelashes. "It sounds like you're worrying about me. I'm tougher than I look. You of all people know that."

"But other people don't know you." Talturner had crossed his arms covering the Ardha insignia over his breast. There rested a secret between these two veterans. A hidden covert sliver of information that was hidden from the rest of the unit.

"I'll be fine, Tal." S'nara wanted to assure her hard-nosed commander. He had the knack for worry in the most emotionally unhealthy way possible. He could do something reckless if anyone of his squad was were threatened. The war room was silent and the two soldiers prepared themselves for their trip to Ralmoora.

* * *

The scene inside the dorm room was awkward and that was putting it mildly. The three silent people sat at the thin table in the kitchen nook of the dorm. Sitting around the table, the Mentor, Roux, and Laura said nothing to each other. Laura disguised a smile while the Time Lord and the human woman hid their uncomfortable grimaces.

_Pourquoi est-ce qui se passe? _Roux, despite all of her begging to help the Mentor, he ended up coming back to the dormitory to spend the night while his unusual device that he manufactured breaks into a simple gardening shed. Everything this man did was confusing and she was no closer to understanding any of it.

_How did this end of happening? _The Mentor thought as he politely smiled back at Laura who was already knee deep in getting the wrong idea of the both of them. He simply didn't want to spend the night out in the cold while his quantum de-entangler rewrote the logic pathways that made up the locking mechanism to the TARDIS. The TARDIS that he stole and ran away with. Nothing about this day was going well for him.

_What is even going on here? _Laura politely sat across from them and leaned on her elbows and rested her chin on the top of the back of her hand. All three of these people had nothing to say. With the sun set and the artificial lights from the kitchen nook illuminating them in a warm glow of florescence.

"So," Laura began, trying to break the ice as delicately as she could. Unfortunately she appeared to be equipped with only a sledge hammer. "How did you get the nickname of 'Mentor'?"

"Uh, well, it was because at my work…" the Mentor struggled to explain himself. "I was always stuck with teaching the new employees, so I essentially became the teacher of everyone coming through."

"Oh, what do you do for work?" Laura was steadily melting through this block of uncomfortable ice. Roux gave a curious look to the Mentor.

"I work in a garage." The Mentor only lied by omission. While he did work as a mechanic for a living the vehicles that he worked on were not the kinds that these girls were thinking of. This was the sort of evening that the Mentor didn't exactly enjoy. The Mentor never had a joyous home life and he was becoming uncomfortable staying in the dormitory. He was soon regretting asking Roux for a place to spend the night.

"So you work on cars?" Laura seemed excited and was wanting to learn more about her roommate's new friend. She found the sleek man with the strong chin line mysterious and with a name like Mentor she was only more intrigued.

"Sometimes." The Mentor shrugged trying to play along with her. "I don't get that much work these days. My boss might be closing the shop soon."

"That's terrible! Isn't it, Roux?" Laura turned to Roux who was clearly disinterested because she knew that the Mentor was lying to her roommate.

"Yeah, it is unfortunate." Roux feigned interest in the conversation that her roommate persisted in. Another wall. This silent corner of the world was soon disturbed knocking from the door of the dorm. Roux gently rose to her feet and glided gloomily with her face sunken, she opened the door. In the doorway stood the familiar silhouette of the university housing department's Mr. Merch.

"Ms. Roux." Mr. Merch said when he saw she had answered the door. From his place just beyond the door he could not sense the presence of the Mentor or Laura. They chose to remain undetected unless they were needed. Laura hovered over the sitting Mentor with her hands on his shoulders while Roux spoke with Mr. Merch.

"Monsieur Merch?" Roux was unsteady at the sudden reappearance of the university's housing department. The sleek man's hair was ruffled and frayed at the ends. He had looked as if he had been in some altercation. "Are you okay? You don't look very well."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Mr. Merch began running a correcting pair of hands over himself rearranging his hair and his wrinkled clothes into cleaner looking position. He was unprepared and he was sweating. "I accidently fell asleep in my office." The embarrassed Mr. Merch smiled coly as he explained. "I received a call today. A call from your father confirming that he was coming to pick you up for your move later this month."

Roux stood wide eyed for a brief moment before her brain could register what Mr. Merch had just told her. In the modern age of man you'd expect a lot of warm feelings and joyous expressions to arise in the eager daughter desiring to see her father. That would be the case undoubtedly if it weren't for the simple fact that Roux, since the tender age of 4, was an orphan.

Mr. Merch was relaying information of a mysterious figure in Roux's life that he was oblivious to. He had no clue to the nature of this message and he didn't seem to notice the resignation in Roux's voice when she responded.

"I understand, Monsieur Merch." She tilted to a slight bow and asked if there was anything else he needed to say. When he told her that was everything that he was there for they said their farewells and Roux closed the door once Jonathan Merch had left. The quietly distressed Roux returned to the sight of Laura and the Mentor where they had hidden out of sight of Mr. Merch. She saw that Laura was resting her hands on his shoulders and a twitch of jealousy twang somewhere deep inside her but she was too overwhelmed by the news of this terrible revelation clouded any judgment she could have focused on.

Sitting back down at the table the Mentor reached out a friendly hand towards her. "Is everything okay?" Roux looked at him from behind near catatonic eyes.

"Mentor…" Roux said with her fingers interlocked worryingly about her situation. "In the morning when your device has completed what you made it for, what do you plan on doing?" she looked at him hoping for an answer that would deliver something reassuring for her.

"I'm leaving her for wherever I can go." The Mentor explained. "I can't stay here for too long and I should have the means to depart tomorrow." The downcast Roux held her face low. Her fingers scratched the soft of her palms underneath the table and she abashedly asked the Mentor.

"Please," the forefront of petite tears appeared at the corner of her eyes. "take me with you?"

* * *

Mr. Merch, once having returned to his office on the first floor of the dorm, sat at his desk and wiped his forehead free of sweat. The dull glow of his work computer spread out in a soft blue that sprawled out over him and his desk. Papers strewn about around his work area the sense of dread and guilt was eating away at Mr. Merch. Sitting there alone and consumed in fear the phone on his desk shocked him back to reality.

"Jonathan Merch." Mr. Merch announced as he picked up the receiver.

"Monsieur Merch." The familiar cadence of the soft spoken French flowed from the speaker of the phone. Mr. Merch straightened his back to full attention as if the owner of the voice was standing before him in the room.

"You."

"Avez-vous livrer le message?" the voice asked for a report from the university housing department official.

"I told her." Mr. Merch rubbed his forehead as he spoke.

"Very good, Monsieur Merch." The voice spoke calmly and with a subtle layer of confidence that was carried alone covertly in the way he spoke down to Mr. Merch. "You watch her and make sure she stays where she is. If she is not there when my associate arrives, let me just say, Il sera désagréable."

"I understand." Mr. Merch submitted himself to this mysterious commander of his. Without another word the voice on the other end of the phone disconnected and the line went dead. Mr. Merch returned the receiver to its cradle and leaned forward, resting his face in the palms of his hands. He was in deep with someone that would not accept failure as a result.

Mr. Merch was no longer the ruler of his own life. He was in the inescapable hellish service to the closest thing this planet has to a monster.

* * *

"_Rematerialization in approximately two mintues._" The robotic voice announced to the crew of the TARDIS called Endeavor. A TARDIS cruiser with the capacity (like any TARDIS before and after) to change its exterior appearance to the most needed for the moment. Commander of the Ardha unit, Talturner sat in the captain's chair at the center of the bridge as the members of his unit worked diligently at their stations.

"Sir, we're receiving a signal from the planet's surface." A lieutenant spoke from his listening station. "It's the same signal from the Eye. I would wager that the Leaves of Time are too far off either sir."

"Can you confirm that it's the Eye?" Talturner rotated his chair to face the lieutenant.

"Artron energy readings are a match." The lieutenant confirmed. "Unless there's another TARDIS down there with a massive core breach that the Energy Capacitor is kicking out more than normal. I'm betting we've found the right planet."

"Very good, lieutenant." Talturner spun his chair back to its forward position and spoke loudly so the bridge crew would hear. "Alright everyone! It looks like there's a good chance that the Eye is on Ralmoora. We'll need to have survey teams to scan for the Artron signature. But you all know what that means. Boots on the grounds. No relying on orbital scans."

The crew remained still and focused as their commander gave them their orders.

"S'nara will lead the ground team." Talturner spoke. "Any and all commands are to be followed like normal. And remember everyone." He took a solid breath before continuing. "If this is in fact the Eye that the Lord President is looking for, then the local inhabitants will have been affected by its presence. That much Artron energy seeping into the locals is bound to make a few of them go beyond help. Use your best judgment out there."

The crew of the TARDIS Endeavor rose simultaneously and proceeded to leave the bridge to prepare for departure once the ship had materialized on Ralmoora's surface. S'nara waited for the other members to leave before her and when she was last one behind she spoke to Talturner.

"I've set up the communications link with the Council." She said once she was sure they were alone. "They're wanting a mission update as soon as we get any results. The Lord President really wants his hands on this eye thing."

"You still don't understand, S'nara." Talturner spoke calmly and clearly to her without facing her. "The Eye is more than just some artifact that was stolen. It's ripping through the layers of reality wherever it touches."

"I don't understand all of the science spiel, Tal. You know that." S'nara was getting frustrated was about to leave before Talturner spoke once more.

"How could you?" Talturner said, with spite steadily rising in his voice. His frustration with her ignorance was becoming too noticeable and he tried to compose himself more respectfully. "Only Time Lords know what the Eye is capable of doing."

Back on Galifrey in the jails of Arcadia beneath the glass dome that encased the city's spires from outside exposure there was a man singing to himself in his cell. His tiny prison of steel bars and bloody scratches covering the walls were all he knew. But he also kept inside of him a terrible secret. The poetic lyrics of a song that never repeated in chorus passed his dry lips as he lay rocking back and forth on the cold floor.

_"She feels the world beneath her turn. Knowing not what the feet on this green earth churns. This scar and knife take sleep and life she runs and runs and runs and runs. Forever fleeing from her home. She never was again alone." _This man rambled onwards and never once ceasing. It was in these words, in the lyrics written by no one that a puzzle lay hidden, a fear for a president, a key to someone's freedom, and the start of a war.


	4. Chapter 4

**Doctor Who Tales of the Before**

**By Jay Schmidt**

_ Hello everyone! Thanks for reading this next chapter of my tale. I'm mostly using this story as a way to keep me writing to work on other projects in my personal time and if this gets more love in the future it will definitely rise in the ranks of priority for me. So I appreciate any comments and reviews and I hope you all enjoy reading!_

**Chapter Four**

Time. It is a strange duck indeed. Less than a dozen species in the history of the universe will ever of had created for themselves the ability to travel through this anomalous substance that marches ceaselessly forward and around back on itself. Much like those little fourth dimensional chronomytes that live off of eating their own time line, the history of the universe is in the throes of constant chaos and change.

In human mythology, back on their home world of earth on a little peninsula, people once believed in a god of time. Kronos was one of this deities' many names throughout humanity's history. Ever since the humans discovered the power of killing behind a sharpened rock the universe was far more complex and brimming with life than they could possible realize.

Gallifrey, while being the home world of the Time Lords, was not originally ruled by Time Lords in the beginning. They are simply the latest rulers in a long line of conquers. Before the long war with the Vampires, and before the Death Zone served as the tomb for one of the most revered men in Time Lord History, and long before his birth as well, the planet Gallifrey was under the control of the generations of the Pythia.

A name and a matrimonially title ascribed to the ruler of the Gallifrey prior to the rebellion led by history's most well-known Time Lord. Each Pythia was capable to perceive the future and see what was to come. Masterful tacticians and brilliant rulers that used to use Gallifreyans as slaves of tool and war. But, eventually in the long history of this world there was a Pythia that did not possess the same power as her predecessors. She couldn't not peer into the future and proclaim what lay before all and soon rebellion ensued. After the fall of the 389th ruler called Pythia was assured by bloody war, the Time Lords rose, but at a cost.

Mass sterility in the form of a species wide curse left the Gallifreyans in dire straits. If it were not for the creations of the Looms, machines that provide the Time Lords a means of reproducing despite the curse left behind by Pythia, the species would have evaporated from the anoles of time.

Not all Gallifreyans chose to ascend to becoming Time Lords, and the planet was divided unevenly in favor of those that created the prized possession of the universe, the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimension In Space.

It was in the House of Blyledge that the Mentor was born in the age long after Rassilon and Omega. The Mentor spent his younger years eagerly awaiting for the day his life would mean something to those that he loved. He would grow of for hundreds of years, working and eating and sleeping, day in and day out, working on TARDISes as an employee of the Gallifreyan government.

During these many years of work and learning, the Mentor was able to learn almost everything there was to know about what made a TARDIS work. How they grew and what they felt like inside and their dreams. No one ever really thinks about what a TARDIS dreams about. It was one of the things that made the Mentor a natural mechanic on Gallifrey. He dared to imagine the things that those wonderful machines dreamt about.

You must remember that a TARDIS is not a mear contraption or simple machine put together on the fly by some moron with a kit. They are grown. Majestic forms of neural circuitry and psychic computations made up these wonderful creatures that the Time Lords have grown to rely heavily upon.

For as many years of experience that the Mentor had stored away in the grey matter of his brain, he regretted his time on Earth after he reluctantly stole away a type 607 TARDIS and met a young French maiden by the name of Roux. Little did he know that this path he was now irreversibly on was going to lead him to a much larger fate.

"I don't think this is a good idea." The Mentor stroked his chin as he sat at the table in the dormitory kitchen. Roux and Laura sat on the opposite side of him. For as much as Roux begged the Mentor, Laura didn't fully understand why or what was happening entirely but she listened for as much as she could. What she grasped wasn't complex.

Roux feared being here at this university now. Something petrified the poor girl so greatly that fear was driving her to flee for all she was worth. She desperately begged the Mentor to take her with him and she promised that she wouldn't be a burden.

The Mentor could clearly tell that something was dark inside of Roux. That something was burned into her, not of her flesh but her soul. Something had broken her spirit to something malformed and broken and she wanted to suppress it as much as she could.

"Please." A torrent of tears hid behind her pale eyes pushing against the flood gates but still kept at bay.

"It wouldn't be safe travelling with me." The Mentor spoke up as he tried to explain without reveling too much about himself. "There wouldn't be a lot of security around me. It would be a constant gamble."

"It would be better than here." Roux's head hung low struggling against the agony inside. "Anywhere were _he _can't find me is better."

"Your father?" the Mentor hadn't fully understood the problem at this point and to some extent neither had Laura. "What's so bad about your father?" Shaking with her eyes shut tight, Roux couldn't stomach it anymore.

"I don't have le père!" a shriek of horror erupted and she was met by the stupefied faces of her roommate and the Mentor. A warm realization washed over the others when Laura and the Mentor made their internal translations.

"Then…" Laura peered back to the door to the dorm where Roux had spoken with Mr. Merch. "Was he mistaken then, or?"

"Please!" Roux placed her palms flush to the table and pressed her forehead against it. "I'm t'en supplie! If I stay here I am mort! Please… please… please." She began clutching her stomach and whispering over and over again through gritted teeth. "Il n'y à plus. Il n'y à plus. Il n'y à plus. Il n'y à plus." She was saying "No more."

The fear in the woman was immense, deep, and clutched at her very heart. Something was broken in her and it was more than skin deep. Even on the surface of her light skin she kept something underneath her clothes that would turn the others pale.

"What if…" the Mentor trailed off trying to compose a sentence that would both decline her but not appear heartless.

"I think we should call it a night." Laura finally interceded. Roux gently raised her head to one side and saw how distraught her roommate was. "If we get a good night's rest we can make a decision in the morning. You were staying the night anyway weren't you?" she turned to the Mentor trying her best to smile.

"Uh, yeah." The Mentor nodded. "I was. Thanks for that." Laura nodded in return and placed a gentle hand on Roux's shoulder. The comfort exude from her roommate helped dry her tears for the moment. They all agreed that it was time to call it a night.

Laura provided the Mentor the use of her air mattress in the living area of the dorm and the two girls would sleep in their rooms, naturally. Roux, who was too emotionally drained at this point to be cogent, retired to her room. The Mentor and Laura waited for the light from underneath her door went dark.

Using a hand pump to fill the mattress, Laura spoke softly and asked the Mentor a few questions.

"I'm not sure what is happening with Roux, but…"

"I don't think I can help her." The Mentor shook his head watching the air mattress slowly get fatter. He noticed the look Laura was giving him. "Look, it's complicated with me. I'm not in a safe place to help anyone."

"She scared." Laura pointed out. "I don't think Mr. Merch knows what he said did to her tonight but it has her terrified. You can't help her at all?"

"What about you?" The Mentor raised an eyebrow. "You're her roommate. You know her a lot more than I do and she seems to trust you."

"That's not really the case." Laura coly smiled and shook away the feelings of separation from this situation. "We don't talk that much. When we do talk, it's nothing like this. She seems to trust you a lot more than me."

The Mentor didn't know how to take this. It felt like an insult at first to him but he thought it out. Roux reached out to him first. He was alone and he must have looked like the world had just shat on him, but that didn't stop her from holding out her hand to pick him up. No matter how many times that he tried to push her away she wanted to help this stranger. That's right. They were just strangers that met today, and she didn't even know the truth about the Mentor or where he was from.

To Roux, she must be thinking that she would be on the run like something out of an action movie. Going from country to country staying one step ahead of the adversary hunting them down. It wouldn't have to be that complicated though. By this time tomorrow, the Mentor could be anywhere in time and space. He would just have to take her somewhere she wouldn't have to keep running from. A safe place for life.

Another world.

_That might work. How do I explain it though?_

"Mentor?" Laura noticed that he wasn't paying attention or that she had finished pumping up the mattress. He hadn't snapped back to the conversation yet. "Mentor..?" she looked at his face deep in thought and she set aside the hand pump onto the floor. He hadn't responded.

_Kiss!_

Laura had leaned in over the mattress and gave the handsome (in her eyes) gentlemen a peck on the lips. Instantly the Mentor's thoughts were immediately brought back to reality where he was getting kissed by a human girl.

Peeling her lips away from his she giggled and looked at his clear eyes. The Mentor was stricken speechless and couldn't recover from the surprise.

"Are you back?" she laughed.

"What?" the Mentor finally sputtered.

"You were staring into space there." Laura said to him. "I wanted to make sure you were still here on earth."

"Heh," the Mentor chuckled to himself, the irony running deeper than Laura was capable of realizing.

"Will you help her?" Laura asked kindly for Roux to be safe. The Mentor paused for a moment, still reeling from the shared moment of intimacy that came from left field, before finally nodded.

"Yeah." He said. "I'll take her with me. I'll make sure she gets somewhere safe." Laura beamed to him and reflexively hugged him tightly and thanked him with another kiss. This time on the cheek.

She thanked him and rose to her feet. The Mentor finally realizing that the air mattress had been filled to the brim with hand pumped air he tested the firmness and Laura bid him a good night. Sinking into the soft cloud of a mattress the Mentor rolled until finally he could sleep. It was difficult for him to stay asleep as he was eager to leave this world as soon as possible.

* * *

The lush forest planet of Ralmoora is a world part of the Cadeen providences. Nearly fifty thousand years ago (from the Common Era) the entity known as The Lovely Cadeen, a massive computer network of a million different artificial intelligences combined into a singular unit, took control of Ralmoora and its parent star Cassidus.

The TARDIS Endeavor had landed undetected by any of Ralmoora's sensors that orbited the planet as they were unequipped to sweep for vessels that could dematerialize. With the Endeavor disguised as a large old vehicle that mimicked the equipment that was left behind when the colonists of Ralmoora fled as Cadeen took over it wouldn't be looked at twice if discovered. If anything came by they would simply accept that it was another derelict piece of machinery that was abandoned tens of thousands of years prior.

A small reconnoitering team, led by S'nara, exited their shape changed ship. Using their navigation equipment that each soldier was harness with they proceeded to the outlaying region of the largest encampment of Ralmoora called the Nest. In the center of the nest lay Cadeen and its massive structure that housed the circuits and cooling units for the complex technology.

The team was moving deftly through the forest, taking careful precautions to avoid waking the plants up. The team had chosen the time of Ralmoora's thirty three hour day to traverse through. At this hour of twilight, the plants would be still asleep and incapable of rendering the Time Lords presence.

This was the most well known thing about Ralmoora. The singing forests of the world were known throughout the universe and many sought after them to search for the secrets of their musical talent. These plants, all of which performed at different octaves depending on the type of plant, had gaseous pouches that sucked in air and exhaled (for a lack of a better word) out musical notes.

Plants aren't the same on every world and these Time Lords knew that. This is why they planned out ahead of time to properly determine the best time to move into position. It was nearly two hours later that the team was finally in position on a ridge over looking the Nest. A large security network buzzed noisily around the electrified fence and automated drones patrolled preprogrammed areas of search.

S'nara and her team prepared themselves and spread out so each member of would have a different angle of approach. Now, they simply had to play the waiting game. Nearly forty minutes had passed before Talturner had appeared at the front and main gate of the Nest.

"_Halt!_" a voice, metallic and straightforward demanded from behind the wall through a speaker on the outside of the wall. "_This world is private property. State your name and intent!_"

"My name is Talturner." The Ardha commander spoke confidently with fear absent in his voice. "I bring a personal message from the Lord President of Gallifrey… along with a seal of the council to show my authority."

"_Step forward!_" the robotic voice commanded. Talturner approached closer to the wall. "_Halt! Commencing scanning sequences… Verifying biometric data… Seal recognized. Planet: Gallifrey. Species: Time Lord. Intent:…_" the voice was left hanging for a moment before Talturner made the connection that it was waiting for him to speak.

"Diplomacy." He spoke out.

"_Intent: Diplomacy._" The voice continued. "_Authorization: Granted._" With a loud shuddering clank of gears and steel rubbing steel, the gate to the Nest slowly rose from its place planted in the soft ground. Talturner was greeted by armed sentries beyond the gate and he confidently strode into the Nest.

Large guns trained on the Time Lord following his every muddy footstep further into the compound. Automatic camera lenses for eyes monitored the suspicious visitor to their home. Talturner maintained his confidence and if he wasn't he was acting very well to keep that from the machines.

Large lighted arrows directed the Time Lord to the location he was to go as told by his hosts and he followed them up to the center of the Nest. Smack dab in the heart of the Nest rested a massive block of metal, nearly seamless and without features save for a lowing green symbol on its front, it was the main point of interaction between the Lovely Cadeen and anything or anyone not connected to her network.

"I'm Commander Talturner, and I'm here with an urgent request of information." The commander spoke without skipping a beat.

"What is your question?" a soft voice with an electronic twinge subtle in its cadence flowed from the green symbol, gently flashing with each syllable it spoke.

"Our ship detected a signal on this world." Talturner spoke. "A very strong Artron energy signature from the surface of Ralmoora. We have reason to believe a dangerous threat to the Time Lords is here as well."

"By what means have you come to this conclusion?" Cadeen questioned the commander. "Ralmoora is protected by many sensors in orbit. If something did sneak in, it would not have gotten far before our internal detection would have located the breach. That raises the concern of your presence here, Time Lord. By what means are you here?"

"My own." Taltuner said. "How I'm here isn't as important as why. There might be a dangerous fugitive on your world and that is what I'm after."

"…" the processor ate his words and tasted them in a nonexistent tongue. "We have had no knowledge of this Artron signature. How can we believe that you may be lying?"

"You don't." Talturner snapped back. "This is something that has to do with honor. A machine has no concept of this I take it, so I have brought it upon myself to take responsibility for this stranger on your lands."

The machine whirred around the Time Lord monitoring his movements and reading his appearance. His clothes bore no symbol of his unit or even any military background. He was wearing common clothes (common for aliens) and was unarmed from what they could tell. In reality he was unarmed, but that did not mean he wasn't dangerous.

"State your request." Cadeen said.

"I want to search for this fugitive." Talturner said. "Regardless whether you allow. I am simply here to inform you as it is your world. I would have thought that you would have wanted this dangerous person off your world."

"We have no reason to believe you." Cadeen said and the machine servants drew closer to the Time Lord. "You will remain our prisoner until further notice. Compliance is not required."

"Damn." Talturner casually said and raised a fist to the air and loud piercing thundering rings of plasmatic rounds clashing against the towering metal creatures descending onto him. The metal sentinels collapsed and sparked from their internal components being torn apart and shredded into.

"You will not stop me, Cadeen." Talturner said as he turned and returned to the entrance of the Nest, plasma rounds keeping away anything that still dared to come near him. Talturner left the machine matriarch in its encampment and held a finger up to his ear. "Looks like we're on our own. S'nara, have you located the signature."

"I have the location down within fifty meters." S'nara's voice crackled through his ear piece.

"Let's go get us a fugitive."

* * *

The sun had barely risen by the time the Mentor had woken up and gathered his things. The dorm seemed desolate of any others awake and he took the time to deflate the air mattress as quietly as he could and left the dorm. The Mentor crept along the hallway of the dormitory building and rode the elevator to the first floor.

Leaving the building he began walking the path that Roux led him on the night previous to retrace his steps back to the TARDIS he had stolen. The ugly looking shed was still present and the device he had made still dangled from the lock and flashed a green light indicating completion. Before the Mentor had the chance to see his device's success he saw a girl slumped against the door of the hidden machine.

Roux was curled up and asleep at the door to something far more powerful than she realized and the Mentor sighed in frustration as if he was a naughty child getting discovered by his parent before he could sneak out of the house. Roux had with her a backpack stuff to the seams with clothes and personal effects, the little she had with her when she first arrived, and she was clothed with a heavy sweater and warm pants and she had fallen asleep waiting for the Mentor to try to leave without her.

The Mentor kneeled down to her and looked over her while she still slept. He had no idea how he was going to tell her anything about him or what she leaned against and a part of him was frightened to show her the truth.

"Oh, Roux." He sighed and he placed a gentle petting hand on her head and she gently stirred awake, sleepily pawing away the drowsiness from her eyes. "Are you awake?"

"Mentor?" she shivered from the dawn cold and saw his soft eyes looking at her. Straightening up her back she tried to get to her feet and through a short stumble she patted off the blades of grass stuck to her and she stood facing the Mentor.

"What are you doing out here?" the Mentor asked, already knowing where the answer would lead to.

"You wanted to get inside this shed yesterday." Roux said slightly holding the device in her hand. "I'm not sure what's in here, but I knew that once you had whatever was in there that you would leave. I didn't want you to leave without me."

"You really don't want to stay here, do you?"

"Non." Roux shook her head, the memories of Mr. Merch's visit the previous night rushing into her.

"There are things you don't know about me." The Mentor said resting a hand on the shed.

"We only met hier." Roux smiled grimly, trying her best to remain positive and encourage the Mentor to take her with him wherever he was going.

"That's true." The Mentor chuckled. "We did only meet yesterday, but… It's complicated what is going to happen. It might not be the sanest thing you've seen."

"It does not matter." Roux said.

"Alright." The Mentor exhaled preparing to explain the nature of a far grander universe than the young girl had or could imagine. "I'm not a member of the human race. I'm from a large planet called Gallifrey 250 million light years away. This shed here isn't a garden shed that someone forgot and abandoned but rather a machine called a TARDIS. A type 607 to be precise. It is a space ship that can travel anywhere in time and space. I am an alien."

Roux starred at the Mentor with a dazed look and glossy eyes that couldn't register the information that the Time Lord fed her and her mouth went dry from hanging open. Rubbing her eyes she felt that something like smoke had invaded her eyes and she suddenly felt at a complete loss. A delusion, or someone that was clearly insane with a large fictional world crammed inside his head.

"You're saying…" she said shaking her shoulders, wanting the world for once to be kind to her. "Inside this shed is a ship."

"Well sort of." The Mentor said examining the unlocking device he had attached to the TARDIS. "The shed _is _the ship. This exterior is a cloak of sorts. A TARDIS with a working chameleon circuit can shape the outside of itself to anything I needs to remain hidden."

Roux wanted to question him further but the Mentor was already pressing buttons on the device and removed the pad lock from its closed position. He stepped inside and left the door slightly ajar, a warm air pouring from inside and the melodious sound of whirring followed closely behind.

"Mentor?" Roux grabbed her pack, slung it over her shoulder and pushed her way passed the door and inside lay a whole world of new knowledge was before her. The interior of the TARDIS was the same as when the Mentor first broke in. Large wooden pillars that wrapped around metal components and extended beyond the floor and the ceiling. Large emerald lights lit up the center console.

Roux saw the Mentor struggling to erect a piece of a console from the glass floor. Once he had it properly up he checked the wires of the disconnected system.

"Close the door." The Mentor said, throwing a tilting nod to Roux. Quickly closing the door behind her, Roux was freaking out internally.

"What is this thing?" Roux was rubbing her eyes trying to bring back her reality but to no avail. "Comment est l'intérieur si grand? It is impossible!"

"Transdimensional engineering." The Mentor tried to explain. "My species are masters of it. In fact that was what I did for a living before where I am now. I would work on TARDISes for the city."

"How is this happening?" Roux was breaking down and her backpack had fallen to the glass floor which quickly snatched the Mentor's attention. He saw her fall to her knees and tears streaming down her cheeks and her face buried into her hands.

"Roux, what's wrong?" he rushed to her side.

"Suis-je fou?" her accent driveled out in panic and a crushing depression that was overcoming her.

"You're not crazy!" the Mentor grabbed her shoulders and stare intently at her. Their eyes met through Roux's tears and she saw the seriousness in his face. "Roux, you're okay. The last thing you are 3is crazy. Now you need help. You want to leave this place more than anything right?" she nodded sheepishly. "Alright then. Welcome aboard Mademoiselle Roux."

"Where will we go?" the confused young girl squeaked out.

"We have the rest of the universe at our fingertips." The Mentor explained jovially. "Wherever we go, no one will find you if you don't want them to."

The Mentor rose and planted himself in front of the controls. He could hear the way the TARDIS (remember that it was stolen and this particular TARDIS protests the Mentor and Roux being there) moaned in rebellion against him but it obeyed the will of the controls nonetheless. With its own fate in the hands of the Time Lord that stole it away, it had no choice in the matter.

The center column that was the Time Rotor was a shard of green crystalline fragments that protruded wildly upward within its case from the center console. After the Mentor went through the preflight check he held onto the magnetic landing clamps and gave Roux a meaningful look.

"Are you read, Roux?"

"Oui, Mentor." A bittersweet smile fleetingly rested on her lips and the Mentor threw the lever that held the TARDIS in place and the gardening shed that served as its exterior faded, flashing and soon disappeared as if it was never there in the first place.

* * *

That night at the university something awful had happened in the shadows. Police cars lined the perimeter of the dormitory building and the flashing red and blue lights bounced its way through the windows into all of the rooms of the students.

A police detective was being led through the scene and told all the relevant facts as he stood in the office of the victim.

"Vic's name is Jonathan Merch." A uniformed police officer informed the plains clothes detective and handed him a plastic bag of evidence. "Age thirty three. He was with the housing department for the university working late. Someone did a number on him." The body had just been covered by the medical examiner but the detective already saw the mess of body parts and viscera that painted the room and soaked into the carpeting,

"Sir, we have a situation." Another officer approached the detective and whispered delicate news into his ear. The two quickly left the room and rode the elevator to one of the upper floors. Walking down the hallway the detective saw another officer standing outside of one of the dorms and yellow tape was already tapestried across the doorway.

The detective ducked underneath the yellow border and saw the mess inside the dorm room. It was similar to the horrific scene in the office on the first floor the only difference being this was the body of a young college student. A girl by the looks of it.

"Get the medical examiner up here." The detective said. "We've got more work here."

"Sir!" the officer that accompanied the detective discovered a wallet in the victim's bedroom. "The victims."

The detective looked at the ID inside. "Her name was Laura. What happened with these two?"


End file.
